The invention relates to a sliding and lifting roof for vehicles of the type having a rigid cover that is slidably guided, by way of the front and rear guide shoes, on guide rails running longitudinally on opposite lateral sides of an opening of the roof, and that is mounted, by way of swivel bearings disposed in the area of its forward end, to pivot around an axis running transversely to the direction of sliding by means of lifting arrangements engaging at the rear guide shoes, so that, starting out from a closed position, the cover may selectively be either lowered at its rear edge below the fixed surface of the roof and then slid rearwardly below the fixed surface of the roof or tilted upwardly at its rear edge into a ventilating position.
In particular, the invention relates to such a roof wherein at least one of the guide rails is provided with a recess and a locking lever which is biased in a resilient manner toward a locking position in which the locking lever engages within the recess, except in the case of a lowered edge of the cover. The locking lever prevents a sliding back of the cover during tilting out or lowering of the cover, thereby preventing the cover from hitting on the fixed roof surface and preventing damage to the seal that is normally provided for sealing the marginal gap between the cover and the edge of the fixed roof defining the roof opening.
In the case of a known sliding and lifting roof of this type (German Offenlegungsschrift No. 33 00 308), a locking lever is carried on each side of the lid by an additional guide shoe, which is slidably guided behind the rear guide shoe at the respective guide rails and is connected by way of a swivelable resilient art with a guide link attached to the cover in order to participate in the movement of the cover. The unlocking of the locking levers from the recesses of the guide rails is accomplished, in a first phase, by a shifting of the rear guide shoes in relation to the cover in the sliding direction, as well as in a second phase by a shifting of the cover and, thus of the additional guide shoes in relation to the guide rails, likewise in the cover sliding direction. From the forces which, at the same time, become active in the cover sliding direction and by means of cooperation of a cam follower like sloping portion of the lever with the rear guide shoes and the rear edge of the recesses of the guide rails, components of force are diverted which force the ends of the locking levers engaging with the guide rail recesses in an upward direction. The ends of the locking levers then turn up onto the upper bridges of the guide rails having the recesses and participate in the backward movement of the cover while they are pressed resiliently against the guide rails.
On the basis of the always unavoidable production and mounting tolerances, it is relatively difficult, in the case of the above-noted arrangement, to make sure that the locking levers leave the recesses of the guide rails exactly at the appropriate cover swivelling position. The cooperation at the sloping portions of the locking levers with edges of the rear guide sleds and the recesses of the guide rails produces wear affecting operation, as well. At the same time, and in the case of shifting of the locking levers pressed against the guide rails, considerably frictional losses occur.
In the case of another known sliding and lifting roof (U.S. Pat. No. 4,364,601) a slide member is slidably guided behind a forward guide shoe in a respective guide rail, which carries a locking element that engages into a recess of the guide rail from below, in a range of the cover swiveling movement between the fully extended position and the cover closing position, and thus prevents a sliding movement of the cover. The slide members have a perpendicular slit with which a pin attached to the cover engages. Whenever, starting from the closed position, the cover is lowered, the slide member is compressed, by way of the slit-pin connection, counter to the force of a spring in the channel of the guide rail to an extent that the locking element emerges from the recess of the guide rails and the cover together with the slide member may be pushed backwards. Also in the case of this arrangement, additional slide members are necessary and because the slide members in the case of shifting of the lid counter to the spring force, are pressed against the guide rails, undesirable friction losses occur.
The present invention, therefore, has a primary object of creating a sliding and lifting roof which ensures a correct correlation between the swivelling position of the cover and the unlocking point of at least one locking lever. Furthermore, it is a secondary object to produce locking of the cover without requiring any additional guide shoes or slide members and while avoiding disturbing additional frictional losses.
Departing from sliding and lifting roofs of the above-mentioned type, the above objects are achieved according to preferred embodiments of the invention through the fact that at least one locking lever is articulated to a forward guide sled and is swivelable, by contact with the cover when it is lowered or against an adjusting member that participates in the lowering movement of said cover, into a released position in which it is out of engagement with the respective guide rail.
In the case of the sliding and lifting roof according to the invention, the locking process is force-controlled by the cover itself or by constructional elements carrying the cover without any additional mechanism being required. Because of the control through the cover itself or constructional elements carrying the cover, an exact correlation between the swivel position of the cover and the release point of the locking lever are ensured. Effects of wear are kept particularly small. Additional frictional losses in the case of shifting of the lid which are attributable to the locking arrangement do not occur.
The locking lever may also be developed as an essentially S-shaped, two-arm lever, one end of which may lock into a respective recess of a guide rail while the other end of the lever, upon lowering the rear edge of the cover, comes automatically into engagement with the cover or the adjusting member. For operation of the at least one locking lever, the cover, preferably, carries at least one cam. The cam may be adjustable in the operating direction.
In a modified embodiment, the adjusting member is attached at a lateral shield of the cover. It is particularly advantageous to attach the adjusting member to a connecting rod which connects the forward guide sled and the end of the lifting arrangement on the side of the cover, one with the other, and in regard to which the cover is disposed in a manner that is adjustable in height. Even prior to mounting of the cover, the forward and the rear guide sled will be fixed by way of the locking lever, so that the sliding roof can be premounted and can be tested without the cover. Additional transportation safety arrangements may be omitted, and adjustments in the height of the cover have no influence on the locking lever.
These and further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings which show, for purposes of illustration only, several embodiments in accordance with the present invention.